Midyear lower front bumper braces

[Frank D.]

Re: Midyear lower front bumper braces

That's way off - are you 100% sure you have the brackets attached to the frame and assembled correctly ?. Some other experts here may have better advice. Might be time to talk to your bodyman. If you force things you're going to crack some fiberglass.

Is that outer brace up against the inside fiberglass at the hole ?

[Jack J.]

Re: Midyear lower front bumper braces

Frank, after I took these pics, I twisted and shoved the lower bracket end outward. Now relatively level but at least 1/2 inch away. Now looking at (again) the slotted (2 holes in lower bumper that attach to lower bracket. Right now the bumper is pushed all the way back. Thinking (again) drive the bumper forward at bottom. Perhaps, maybe?? The corner end will come around to touch the body. Jack J.

[Jack J.]

Re: Midyear lower front bumper braces

Just checked driver's side from the other day's installation, and that bumpers corner is 3/4 to 1" away from the body.

[Frank D.]

Re: Midyear lower front bumper braces

All I can say is, if the braces are assembled correctly, that with that center bracket bolted to the bumper that I don't see a way to get the corner to meet the body with the adjustments provided in the braces - something is amiss. Maybe someone on here will take a measurement from the center of one front parking light to the other so you can compare the distance.

[Jack J.]

Re: Midyear lower front bumper braces

That's way off - are you 100% sure you have the brackets attached to the frame and assembled correctly ?. Some other experts here may have better advice. Might be time to talk to your bodyman. If you force things you're going to crack some fiberglass.

Is that outer brace up against the inside fiberglass at the hole ?

Yes both sides

[Frank D.]

Re: Midyear lower front bumper braces

This are the slots that provide the range of adjustment (again, ignoring the bottom brace). You can pivot the center brace around its forward bolt foa an up and down adjustment and slide the outer brace rearward and upward to mate to the outside fiberglass hole.

Maybe lowering the forward end of the front brace and pushing the outer brace fully up and rearward might get you closer ? Who knows ?

[Jack J.]

Re: Midyear lower front bumper braces

All I can say is, if the braces are assembled correctly, that with that center bracket bolted to the bumper that I don't see a way to get the corner to meet the body with the adjustments provided in the braces - something is amiss. Maybe someone on here will take a measurement from the center of one front parking light to the other so you can compare the distance.

56 3/4 inches C/L to C/L

[Jack J.]

Re: Midyear lower front bumper braces

I just installed the cross piece bar between the bumpers. Easily hand threaded 1 (bolt (bottom) into each bumper. Very level.

[Frank D.]

Re: Midyear lower front bumper braces

56 3/4 inches C/L to C/L

Good - a very rough way to see if the OP's corner repairs are close to corrct.

[Jack J.]

Re: Midyear lower front bumper braces

Frank, just NEED to get the bumpers up AGAINST the glass. Why??? Need answers. Jack J.

[Frank D.]

Re: Midyear lower front bumper braces

If the corner repairs are at issue that could be the problem. A quick measurement was all I was suggesting.

[Jack J.]

Re: Midyear lower front bumper braces

Pic- Where the 3/4 inch hole is, in relationship to brace

[Frank D.]

Re: Midyear lower front bumper braces

I'm not sure what I'm looking at here; if that's the attachment hole in the lower right of pic I don't see anything close to it.


If the bumpers are original and undamaged then there are only 3 things at play IMO:

1. Something is badly mis-adjusted; even just fumbling around all three attachment points should be able to be installed albeit the bumper may be crooked.
2. The braces are bent or mis-assembled
3. The bodywork or hole location is an issue.

Its looking to me like items 2 and 3 above are coming to the fore.
At this point I may be confusing you more than helping so I'll drop out of this thread.

All I can tell you is that installing bumpers shouldn't be that hard even after bodywork.
My car went from the before pic to the after pic and I installed the bumpers when the bodywork was finished in about 90 minutes, including the braces.

[John F.]

Re: Midyear lower front bumper braces

AS best as I could my signal lights center to center are 56.5". Both sides are snug against the glass. Are those the same bumpers that were sent off for chrome? Some places just keep your cores and send you another pair.

[Jack J.]

Re: Midyear lower front bumper braces

John, these bumpers are NOT my originals. They are re-chromed from?? given to me by the restoration shop. Today, after a week of beating myself up day & night(hours and hours) I have a course of action today! But I need a VERY CRITICAL measurement. What is the distance between the leading edge/ corner's tip between bumper to bumper? My measurement is 15 11/16. In order to compensate for variances, I'm going to elongate the front hole of the lower brace as well as the thru brace's hole to the bumper. I think by doing this I can get the bumpers up against the glass by rotating the lower bracket inboard. Here are a few pics from last night( wee hours of the morning, and today. Jack J. Second pic is last night's install of driver's side, and I thought the passenger side was bad!